One year ago, I wrote what I hoped would be my last blog on earmarks.This one related to
the omnibus spending bill that contained so much pork that it wasn’t “yea”
votes that carried the day but oinks, grunts, winks and smiles. That blog
followed many others on pork, earmarks, ornaments, both federal and
state-related, that lamented the practice, the impact, the corruption and the
erosion of democracy that goes hand in hand with this noxious, persistent,
common-to-both-parties practice.

I was beginning to bore myself!

But I’m at it again.Mercifully, though, this blog is brief—as brief as it is painful, to
write.

The $787 billion stimulus bill that passed Congress one year
ago--just after the omnibus spending bill that was the subject of my blistering
commentary cited above--was also loaded with pork.It received little support from Republican members of the
House and Senate.As it turns out,
these very same folks, even while they attacked the Democrats and labeled the
stimulus a loser, were right up there, at the front of the line, seeking money
from it for their districts.

Now they’re calling “that loser” a failure, charging that
the stimulus bill didn’t create “a single job.” This, after grabbing dollars to
create jobs in their districts! Inconsistency is a constant in some quarters in
the District so, I guess, one shouldn’t be surprised when we arrive at
hypocrisy.

In fact, ten Republicans in particular got quite a lot from
this bill for their districts, as revealed by the Wall Street Journal. By the way, the Journal had to use the Freedom of Information
Act to obtain letters written by the Republican lawmakers to various government
agencies that asked for stimulus money for job-creating projects in their
districts.Now they have the
audacity, after getting the funds that they sought (even while attacking the
bill that gave it to them), to denounce the Obama administration, charging it
with “waste” and “socialism”--the usual suspects in what passes for discourse
on that side of the aisle.

Here are but two examples, among many:The Environmental Protection Agency
received letters from Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) asking for grants for clean
diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston.By the way, Mr. Cornyn is the chairman of the National
Republican Senatorial Committee.Houston received millions of dollars in diesel funding.EPA also received letters from Senator
Bob Bennett (R-Utah) recommending infrastructure projects in his state which
the state received.

Let me emphasize, again, that both voted against the stimulus bill.Spokespeople for Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Bennett said they were
just making sure their states received part of the spending once it had been
agreed upon.How convenient.

Fast forward to the present and prepare for déjà vu.The Obama budget is calling for $266
billion in new spending for jobs and stimulus, direct job creation, extensions
of unemployment benefits and fiscal aid to states facing more rounds of
layoffs, canceled programs and projects, spending cuts and tax increases.Let’s see who steps up to the
plate, who doesn’t, and whose in line for what following the vote.

Prepare for another exercise of hypocrisy
in action.It’s as sad as it is
predictable.